A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance
By Benjamin J. Montoya
About the Author
Thomas J. DiLorenzo is a professor of economics at Loyola University, Maryland, and a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, the Washington Post, USA Today, and many other publications, and is the author of several popular books, including Hamilton’s Curse, The Real Lincoln, and How Capitalism Saved America. He divides his time between Maryland and Florida.
Introduction
As Margaret Thatcher famously said, the problem with socialism and socialists is, “They always run out of other people’s money.” Yet, so many people today once again are pushing for socialism in the US and elsewhere. Consider this crucial book to learn more about the problem of socialism.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Problem with Socialism
Chapter 2 Why Socialism Is Always and Everywhere an Economic Disaster
Chapter 3 Egalitarianism versus Human Reality
Chapter 4 Islands of Socialism: The Follies of Government “Enterprise”
Chapter 5 Why “The Worst” Rise to the Top Under Socialism
Chapter 6 The Socialist Roots of Fascism
Chapter 7 The Myth of Successful Scandinavian Socialism
Chapter 8 How Welfare Harms the Poor
Chapter 9 How Socialized Medicine Kills the Patient and Robs the Taxpayer
Chapter 10 How Socialism Causes Pollution
Chapter 11 Karl Marx’s “Progressive” Income Tax
Chapter 12 Minimum Wage, Maximum Folly
Chapter 13 How Socialist Regulation Makes Monopolies
Chapter 14 Destroying Capitalism by Socializing Capital
Chapter 15 Is Socialism Really the Best Way to Organize Schools?
Chapter 16 Socialist Myths and Superstitions about Capitalism
Summary
Chapter 1: The Problem with Socialism
The problem with socialism is that it makes all kinds of promises of freebies that it cannot deliver because the system always runs out of other people’s money without creating an economic environment in which more capital can be generated. The younger generation, however, has believed again in socialism despite its abysmal failures last century. Why?
Well, unfortunately, they do not know the history of these failures, and to make things worse, modern-day politicians like Bernie Sanders continue to redress socialism in light of its freebies instead of considering its failures. He and other politicians like him make socialism seem like a non-religious version of Santa Claus.
The larger problem with this version of Santa Claus is that socialism is a destructive economic tool that literally destroys anything it lands on. For example, India used to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world with its textile industry. But socialism destroyed that. We must learn from these historical examples.
Chapter 2: Why Socialism Is Always and Everywhere an Economic Disaster
There are three primary reasons why socialism is always and everywhere an economic disaster as has been seen repeatedly throughout the past couple of centuries. First, socialism offers no incentive to work if all the basics are given to everyone. The result of a lack of incentive to work results in starvation and gross living situations. For example, who would willing be a trashman if there was no financial compensation?
Second, socialism has a knowledge problem. When someone considers all the required ingredients to make something like pizza, there is a lot of knowledge that goes into the growing, manufacturing, and shipping all the ingredients required. That means it takes individuals years to learn how to do these things so that people can enjoy pizza. Socialism does not allow for individuals to gain this kind of knowledge and apply it when a small group of societal planners decide everything, who does what, etc.
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